Argentina appeals U.S. judge's contempt order in bond dispute

NEW YORK Nov 4 (Reuters) - Argentina has filed papers to
appeal a U.S. judge's order finding the country in contempt for
taking steps to evade his orders in a long-running dispute with
hedge funds suing over defaulted debt.

Argentina late on Monday filed a notice of an appeal of a
contempt finding by U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in
Manhattan and his subsequent order that it must "reverse
entirely" actions it had taken in violation of his decisions.

Any appeal would be heard by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals. Griesa has yet to decide what sanctions should be
imposed on the Argentina after in September finding it had taken
"illegal" steps to evade his orders.

Representatives for the hedge funds and Argentina's U.S.
lawyers did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Argentina defaulted in July after refusing to honor court
orders to pay $1.33 billion plus interest to U.S. hedge funds
suing for full payment on bonds following its earlier 2002
default.

The hedge funds, led by NML and Aurelius Capital Management,
had spurned the country's 2005 and 2010 debt restructurings,
which resulted in exchanges for about 92 percent of the
country's defaulted debt.

Investors who exchanged bonds were paid less than 30 cents
on the dollar.

The country's most recent default came after the U.S.
Supreme Court declined to hear Argentina's appeal of a ruling
that it must pay the holdouts when it paid holders of the
exchanged bonds.
Continuación...